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The Dark World is intended for low-level planar travel. It is usable as both a destination and a path, as a group of PCs could traverse the terrain of a Dark World landscape to travel from one gate to another to bypass traveling on the Material Plane. With the increased effect on any light, travel on The Dark World can be easily achieved by 1st level characters with enough torches and candles. For more details, see: Alternate Variances.

Passing into The Dark World from The Material Plane is simple, if uncommon. Many permanent planar gates reside scattered across the land. These gates, normally inactive, are easily activated when their command word is spoken. The command words are typically inscribed upon the borders of the gate itself.

The gates themselves are found within hollowed out caverns of obsidian and built in ages past. The surface of these gates appear to be a black mirrors. When active, their surface ripples faintly. The size of the gates vary between 10 feet in diameter to 30 feet, tending toward the smaller.

With the exception of those that love the darkness, most creatures find life in The Dark world rather unfitting. darkkin, humans who have adapted to life in darkness, are naturally suited to the environment.

Drow have also been known to travel to The Dark World, but despite the darkness in the realm, find the open sky a discomfort, as if constantly exposed. As such, they often still live underground in The Dark World as well.

Having no natural light in recent ages has caused much of the life in The Dark World to wither up. Much of what survives is either sustained by magic, or naturally adapted to sparse, dark environments. Clouds cover the sky constantly, though since there is no sunlight, moonlight, or starlight, they only serve to hold in the heat given off by the earth below.

Among the landscapes of the many worlds within The Dark World, deserts are the prominent feature throughout the plane, carrying on for great sandy expanses. Great mountains protrude from these sandy wastes, and ruins and fallen cities are swept up in the pale sands below.

While the blackness is nearly ubiquitous, it is easily vanquished by even gentle lights, such as the dim flickering of a candle, which glow brighter and stronger on the plane. All light producing effects (such as candles or light spells have their radii doubled. The darkness of the plane gives the feeling of being out in an open expanse, rather that being enclosed in a tightly confined space. In the darkness, most darkkin find the peace relaxing.

The weather of the worlds on this plane is rather stable, without sunlight to cycle changes in night and day. Temperatures rarely deviates from a mild 65° F, as radiant heat from within worlds warms the darkened surface above. Winds are frequent and have few gusts, staying smooth, even and constant for a day or more. When the winds die down, gentle warm rains fall and wash away sand and dust.

Plants are rather rare, being sustained by magic in areas of artificial light. Fungi are much more common around the realm, and though most are small, some have been known to grow into fungal forests where strange creatures live.

Despite the lack of sunlight, The Dark World still has stars. These stars simply don't shed visible light.

Much like The Material Plane, The Dark World has its own coexistent Ethereal Plane, which functions just the same (with the added effect of The Dark World's radiant light enhancement).

Unless a creature has natural darkvision, it is likely not found on The Dark World. Typically, this allows for magical beasts to roam freely. An encounter with anything is rare, with the bottom of the food chain limited to fungi, most vicious predators are few in number to rarely pose a threat or grow very large. However, in fertile valleys that gather rains and fogs and keep out of the washes of sand, life has been known to flourish.

Creatures that commonly reside in dark dungeons and caves, find enormous freedom in wandering about The Dark World, and are the main inhabitants of the realm.

In ages past, The Dark World was known as The Twilight Lands, as the stars did shed some light, though faintly. Cities and peoples flourished under the obscured, clouded sky. Occasionally, the clouds would thin and bands of purples and oranges would dimly illuminate landscapes. The worlds of The Dark World even had day and night. In some regions, the clouds themselves, thick and obscuring, would produce their own radiant glow.

Adding The Dark World to your campaign is easy, since the plane itself is connected to The Material Plane. Travel through The Material Plane may be blocked or hindered, and the PCs may have to take a route through The Dark World, who's distance of travel matches up with that of The Material Plane, but with much different terrain.

Additionally, The Dark World could simply be treated as another plane to explore by planar travel. With its similarity to The Material Plane, travel there is even possible at lower levels. Introducing planar travel early on gives a strong sense of importance and drama to the action of the game.

Additionally, there is the option of playing the realm as it once was, as The Twilight Lands. This conversion is quick and easy:

There is now daytime with dim illumination.

Nighttime is just like The Dark World as described above.

This change grants some additional benefits to those races with low-light vision during the day. Creatures with darkvision still benefit the most without the need for light, so keep this in mind when tailoring adventures for your PCs.

Flavoring the plane to fit your needs is quite easy as well. If you desire to have the inhabitants of The Dark World to more closely mimic something from the Plane of Shadow, being twisted and warped, simply describe them that way.